This invention relates to a machine for continuously delivering a foodstuff such as bean jam.
The applicant has previously proposed a delivery machine of the abovementioned type in Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-40531, filed on Mar. 20, 1985 now Laid-open Publication No. 158,196 published Oct. 1, 1986. The machine includes a hopper having a funnel-like tapered portion at its lower end, a feed sleeve integrated with the hopper and the tapered portion thereof, a frame on which the hopper is rotatably supported, a helical delivery blade fitted into the feed sleeve, a down-feeding blade fitted into the tapered portion of the hopper, a stationary shaft which fixes these blades to the frame, and a drive mechanism arranged externally of the hopper for rotating the same. In the operation of the foodstuff delivery machine having this construction, the hopper is rotated by the drive mechanism, while the helical delivery blade and down-feeding blade remain stationary, thereby delivering the foodstuff, which is contained in the hopper, out of the lower end of the sleeve without the foodstuff being strongly compressed or agitated.
In comparison with a foodstuff delivery machine of the type in which the helical delivery blade and down-feeding blade are rotated and the hopper is stationary, the previously proposed delivery machine described above is better at preventing foodstuff deterioration and a decline in the commodity value thereof because the foodstuff is not strongly compressed or agitated. However, the rotating speed of the down-feeding blade relative to the tapered portion of the hopper and the rotating speed of the delivery blade relative to the feed sleeve are the same, while the down-feeding blade has a larger outer diameter. As a result, there is a difference in the relative peripheral speeds of these blades on the hopper side and feed sleeve side. Owing to this peripheral speed differential, the amount of the foodstuff fed from the hopper to the sleeve is greater than the amount of foodstuff delivered through the interior of the sleeve, so that a compressing force acts upon the foodstuff in the sleeve. Consequently, if the delivery machine is run for an extended period of time, the quality of the foodstuff deteriorates, as by undergoing a change in color, due to the compressing force acting thereon.